A House committee Monday night approved a bill that would significantly slash interest rates on payday loans, cutting out part of the bill that would have put the issue before Colorado voters.

Previous attempts to put stricter limits on payday lenders have failed in recent years amid bipartisan opposition. But with some key opponents now out of the legislature, supporters are girding for battle anew.

House Bill 1351 would cap annual interest rates on payday loans at no more than 36 percent. Under current law, lenders can charge in excess of 300 percent a year on a payday loan, but they argue that applying an annual rate to a loan that is made for only a few weeks is misleading.

There were 610 payday lenders in Colorado in 2008, according to a study by the state attorney general’s office. Before lawmakers eased restrictions on payday lenders in 2000, there were just over 200 financial services stores in the state that offered products similar to payday loans.

In a hearing room at the Capitol packed with hundreds of payday lenders and their employees — along with a smaller contingent of bill supporters that included clergy and advocates for the poor — the House Judiciary Committee heard passionate arguments from both sides.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, said payday loans are not helping borrowers, whom he said too frequently fall into a spiral of loan rollovers and endless debt.

“It isn’t access to credit, it’s access to debt,” Ferrandino said.

Proponents of the bill included a number of borrowers, who said they started out with small loans to help pay bills and then found they could never repay the principal and fees charged.

Kasie Oliver, a woman from Lakewood caring for three grandchildren, said she took out a payday loan and could not pay it back, finding herself turning to food banks to feed her family.

“I thought I would take this loan and get caught up but I didn’t,” Oliver said. “I just got more and more in debt.”

The Rev. Bill Kirton, of the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, called passing the bill a “moral imperative” and compared limiting payday loan fees to Jesus casting money-changers out of the temple.

“Jesus threw these people out because of the morality of the issue, not because he was anti-business,” Kirton said.

But several customers who borrowed money from payday lenders said it helped them make ends meet during tough times.

“I personally don’t want to use credit cards,” said Stacy Stolen, a single mother from Fort Collins who said she has relied on payday loans in the past. “I would just like to have the right to be able to choose to go to payday loans if I want to.”

Payday lenders themselves said the the bill would shut down their industry in Colorado, eliminating a line of credit needed by many.

“I think payday loans will cease to exist in this state at 36 percent,” said Lynn DeVault, representing the Colorado Financial Services Association.

Republicans said the bill would throw thousands of payday loan store employees out of work.

The committee eliminated a section of the bill that would have sent the issue to voters, and then passed it to the full House on a 7-4 party-line vote.

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